ERIC ED509935: Helping Adults Learners Succeed: Tools for Two-Year Colleges

Adult Learners Succeed: Tools for Two-Year Colleges

September 2007

Prepared by Ruth Frey, Consultant

Supported by a grant from Lumina Foundation for Education

4>cael

The Council For Adult & Experiential Learning

Acknowledgements

This publication and the development of the Adult Learning Focused Institution (ALFI)
Assessment Toolkit were made possible by a generous grant from Lumina Foundation for
Education. CAEL is very grateful to the Foundation for its commitment to access and success for
all students, and most particularly Lumina’s investment in projects like the Adult Learner Focused
Institution initiative to help break down barriers for adult learners to participate fully in higher
education. The development and assessment of a community college version of the Toolkit was
only possible because of the colleges that participated in the pilot project. We extend a special
thanks to those institutions:

Bellevue Community College, WA

Bronx Community College, NY

Clark College, WA

College of the Marshall Islands, RMI

County College of Morris, NJ

DeKalb Technical College, GA

Edmonds Community College, WA

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, KY

Inver Hills Community College, MN

Ivy Tech Community College - Bloomington, IN

Ivy Tech Community College - Indianapolis, IN

Lower Columbia College, WA

Madison Area Technical College, Wl

Metropolitan Community College - Penn Valley, MO
Middlesex Community College, NJ
North Hennepin Community College, MN
North Iowa Area Community College, IA
Northwest Arkansas Community College, AR
Norwalk Community College, CT
Owens Community College, OH
Parkland College, IL

Pellissippi State Technical Community College, TN
St. Louis Community College - Meramec, MO
Tulsa Community College, OK
Westchester Community College, NY

The author also thanks CAEL staff who assisted with the preparation and publication of
this publication: Dr. Judith Wertheim, Vice President for Higher Education Services, and
Dr. Cheryl Blanco, Vice President for Lifelong Learning Policy and Research.

For a complete list of CAEL publications or information about CAEL
membership, please contact:

Judith Wertheim

Vice President for Higher Education Services
CAEL National Headquarters
55 East Monroe Street, Suite 1930
Chicago, IL 60603

Phone: 312-499-2600; Fax: 312-499-2601

www.cael.org

Contents Copyright © 2007

The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning

All rights reserved.

The opinions expressed in this report are those of CAEL and do not
necessarily reflect the views of Lumina Foundation for Education.

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Helping Adult Learners Succeed

Helping Adult Learners Succeed:
Tools for Two-Year Colleges

In our knowledge-based economy, education has become a critical link to economic security.

A postsecondary degree or credential is now an essential qualification for jobs that offer good
wages. In fact, the fastest-growing occupations identified by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
require some postsecondary education, while jobs that require only on-the-job training are
expected to decline . 1 This leaves adults without a postsecondary education at a significant
disadvantage in the marketplace.

Adults looking to gain a foothold in the changing economy are seeking a college degree in greater
numbers. Yet, their “non-traditional" characteristics— part-time enrollment, full-time employment,
financial independence, and/or parental responsibilities— create needs and priorities that differ
from those of traditional students 2 and make it difficult for adults to enter into and succeed in
the traditional postsecondary environment. Research on the topic identifies four major barriers
to education for working adults: Lack of time, family responsibilities, scheduling and location of
courses, and the cost of education . 3

Community colleges often provide the access, affordability and convenience adults require
and serve as the point of entry to a college degree or certification. As a result, more than half
of community college students are older than the traditional-aged student . 4 Yet even these
institutions sometimes lack the total learning environment that facilitates and enhances adult
learners' chances for success. Supporting and guiding this population of students can be
challenging. But more colleges are now offering flexible delivery formats, specialized advising,
and expanded services to help adult learners reach their goals.

This paper explores how a carefully designed survey instrument can provide valuable information
to institutional leaders, program directors, faculty, and staff concerning adult learners, their
perceptions of the institution they attend and the directions in which institutions might move to
improve services to adult learners.

Helping Colleges Help Adult Learners

Designing effective programs and services that break down barriers and help adult learners
succeed requires a clear understanding of students’ needs and expectations. To assist with this
task, the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) developed the Adult Learning
Focused Institution (ALFI) Assessment Toolkit, which offers colleges a mechanism to formally
assess programs for adult learners.

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The Assessment Toolkit was developed by CAEL in 2003 and is based on CAEL’s Principles of
Effectiveness for Serving Adult Learners. These Principles, provide a framework for colleges in
developing programs and policies that help adults reach their educational goals:

Outreach: The institution conducts outreach to adult learners by overcoming barriers of time,
place, and tradition in order to create lifelong access to educational opportunities.

Life & Career Planning: The institution addresses adult
learners’ life and career goals before or at the onset of
enrollment in order to assess and align its capacities to
help learners reach their goals.

Financing: The institution promotes choice using an array
of payment options for adult learners in order to expand
equity and financial flexibility.

Assessment of Learning Outcomes: The institution
defines and assesses the knowledge, skills and
competencies acquired by adult learners both from the
curriculum and from life/work experience in order to
assign credit and confer degrees with rigor.

Teaching-Learning Process: The institution’s faculty uses
multiple methods of instruction (including experiential
and problem-based methods) for adult learners in order
to connect curricular concepts to useful knowledge and
skills.

Student Support Systems: The institution assists adult
learners using comprehensive academic and student support systems in order to enhance
students’ capacities to become self-directed, lifelong learners.

Technology: The institution uses information technology to provide relevant and timely
information and to enhance the learning experience.

Strategic Partnerships: The institution engages in strategic relationships, partnerships, and
collaborations with employers and other organizations in order to develop and improve
educational opportunities for adult learners.

Scales in the ALFI Assessment Toolkit represent the Principles. The scales are aggregates of
individual items on the survey that have been clustered together conceptually and statistically.
Scale reports offer a comprehensive picture of what is important to an adult learner population,
how the institution believes it is meeting those needs, and comparisons between the two.

Because community colleges are affordable, open-access institutions that serve as a pathway to
gaining certifications and/or degrees, they fill a unique place in the education of working adults.
With support from Lumina Foundation for Education, CAEL revised its existing ALFI Assessment
Toolkit for the specific needs of these institutions in 2004. The newly developed Toolkit was test-
piloted with 25 two-year colleges during the 2005-2006 academic year (see Appendix A). The
results of the pilot point to the importance of addressing adult learners’ needs in the two-year
institution and serve as a launching point for further exploration of ways for colleges - both two-
year and four-year— to support this important sector of students.

T he Principl es
provide a framework
for colleges in
developing programs
and policies that help
adults reach their
educational goals.

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This document describes the ALFI Assessment Toolkit and the outcomes of the
pilot project, including:

• Understanding student transitions

• Findings from interviews with college representatives who participated in the pilot

• Results from student focus groups

The Adult Learning Focused Institution
(ALFI) Assessment Toolkit

The ALFI Assessment Toolkit is comprised of two
assessments that provide concrete measures of adult
learners’ perceptions of their experience as compared to
faculty and administration’s perceptions of institutional
programming. The first tool is an Institutional Self-
Assessment Survey (ISAS). It is designed to assess a wide
range of activities, policies and practices at institutions
and was developed by CAEL with the assistance of the
National Center for Higher Education Management Systems
(NCFIEMS). The second tool, the Adult Learner Inventory
(ALI), probes adult learners’ experiences to examine how
important and how satisfying a college’s programs and
practices are to them. The ALI was co-developed with
Noel-Levitz, a well-known designer of student assessment
surveys. Together, the Institutional Self-Assessment Survey
and the Adult Learner Inventory provide institutions
with information to guide decision-making activities for
improving adult learner services and program quality, with the ultimate goal of boosting access
and retention. Because outcome reports also offer comparative data with other institutions that
have used the ALFI Assessment Toolkit, the data from the surveys can be used to promote the
successful aspects of those programs and services that already meet the unique needs of adult
learners.

Understanding Student Transitions

Adult learners enter community college for a variety of reasons. Some come for work-related
training. Others enroll in non-credit courses because of personal interest. Many enroll in
credit-bearing courses with the intent of seeking an associate’s degree or transferring to a
four-year institution . 5

A challenge facing community colleges is how to help and encourage adult learners to build on
their education and seek credentials or degrees. Students taking work-related training courses
need a path to a degree or credential program. Students in credit programs need a map to guide
them to courses that will not only meet their program and career requirements but will also
transfer to a four-year institution.

With this in mind, CAEL recently augmented the original set of Principles by creating one on
“Transitions." The Transition Principle states that an “institution supports guided pathways
leading into and from its programs and services in order to assure that students’ learning will

• Concluding observations

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apply usefully to achieving their educational and career goals." Relevant items on the ISAS and
ALI explore issues such as information and advising for students on transferring from non-credit
to credit programs, articulation agreements with four-year institutions, and the availability of
educational planning.

The significance of “Transitions" is exemplified in a 2006
report by CAEL and Noel-Levitz that analyzes the items on
the Adult Learner Inventory. 6 This report shows that of the
47 items on the ALI, three of the seven items that make up
the new “Transitions" scale are located in the top half of
importance scores. These items focus on a college’s ability
to explain what is needed to complete an academic
program, classes that are closely related to life and
work goals, and guidance on classes that transfer to
other programs both within and outside of the college.

The rankings indicate how important information about
Transitions is to the student respondents.

Indeed, two of these items are rated among the top four
items in terms of importance (out of 47). The item related
to the college’s ability to explain what is needed to complete
a program is the second most important item on the survey.

The item on studies relating to life and work goals is the
fourth most important.

Community Colleges and
the ALFI Assessment Toolkit

The real benefit of the ALFI Assessment Toolkit is that it allows campus leaders to compare
perceptions of adult students through the Adult Learner Inventory with perceptions or
administrators, faculty and staff through the Institutional Self-Assessment Survey. It is these
comparisons that help colleges develop strategic priorities and strategic plans.

Approximately one year after the colleges in the pilot used the ALFI Assessment Toolkit and
received their results, CAEL contacted them to learn what institutional changes had been
implemented. Nearly 70% of the pilot colleges reported institutional changes following the use
of the ALFI Assessment Toolkit. Activities included:

• New and expanded course delivery options such as Saturday course offerings, Sunday
course offerings, a “Friday night" degree program, an accelerated degree program, and
hybrid courses (face-to-face and on-line)

• Redesign of a website for adult learners, which is also used as an internal resource for
faculty and staff

• Redesigned orientation sessions, making them more effective and efficient

• Development of a non-credit program targeting adults to assist them in transitioning
to college. This program is designed to help adults become familiar with the college,
help potential students to connect with people at the college and prepare them for
placement exams

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6

Helping Adult Learners Succeed

• Creation of a student mentor or advisor program to help new students negotiate college
processes and procedures

• Hiring an “advising and retention” coordinator at a college’s Learning Development Center

• Mandatory advising training for faculty (full-time and part-time) and the development of

online tools to help keep them up- to-date on advising
issues

• Formation of an “Adult Learner" committee to work
on issues related to this important demographic

• Use of the data to secure a Title III grant award to
aid students in being successful during their first 30
credit hours of college

These activities address some of the most significant
barriers faced by adults and point to issues addressed
by the Principles of Effectiveness for Serving Adult
Learners. Accessible classes are key and creating
learning opportunities at times when adults are
available (weekends, evenings and on-line) is a critical
first step. This was identified for many colleges in the
pilot through the scale addressing the “Outreach”
Principle. Yet, convenient programming is not enough.
Adult students need guidance to help them identify
their goals and the best way to reach them. The
“Life and Career Planning" and “Student Support Systems" Principles include educational
planning and other support services that give adult learners the tools they need to negotiate the
postsecondary environment.

Colleges also reported investigating other areas for new initiatives that may be implemented
in the future. One college’s plan includes articulation agreements with local four-year colleges
in order to position itself as the “preferred provider" for employees of corporations in the
area. This initiative incorporates elements of the “Strategic Partnership" Principle as well as
the new “Transitions" Principle, by working with employers and four-year colleges to provide an
educational pathway for working adults.

In addition to these efforts, eight of the pilot colleges used the data from the ALFI Assessment
Toolkit to inform strategic planning and program review, or as part of the accreditation review.
Four other colleges stated that they plan to use the data as a baseline for future assessments.
One college plans to put the results into its annual report.

Focus Groups

The outcomes from the pilot surveys were further explored through focus groups with adult
learners at three colleges that participated in the project. The comments from students reveal
how the issues of advising, accessibility and educational experience impact students’ daily lives.
Student comments also indicate the importance of the institution’s attention to the “Transitions"
Principle, which affects their ability to efficiently move through their program and set aspirations
for further education.

Nearly 70 percent
of the pilot colleges
reported institutional
changes following
the use of the ALFI
Assessment Toolkit.

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Advising

The students who identified items related to advising as important stated that well-informed
advisors are critical to helping them negotiate their education and stay on track. It is vital for
advisors to be proactive in reaching out to students (“Outreach” Principle), to be knowledgeable
about programs and requirements (“Life and Career Planning" Principle), and to provide
guidance on transfer issues (“Transitions" Principle).

Students noted that good advisors assisted them in
choosing courses that fit their schedules and count
toward their academic program. Adult students have
little patience for courses that do not help them
progress toward their degree. Noted one student,

“As a father of three, there is no way I want to hear
that I didn’t have to take a class. I could have saved
the money. It is important that every class counts
toward my degree.” Another student reported, “I had
a hodge-podge of credits. [The advisor] helped me put
them into a program.”

Advising was also cited as an important issue for
students who were dissatisfied with their experience.

For these students, advising impeded their academic
progress because it did not provide the necessary
information that assisted them in moving efficiently
through their program of study and setting the
foundation for transferring to a four-year institution.

The students expressed the need for advisors to lay out several options and provide advice
on the best avenue to reach their goals. One student noted, “I went three times to an advisor
because I didn’t want to make a mistake and lose time and money. But when I talked to an
advisor, they just tell me I am on the right track after talking with me for two minutes. I know
there is more than one way to go and I want to know the best way to go. I made a mistake [in the
past] because I didn’t take classes in the right sequence." Other students described unsatisfying
encounters with advisors who were not knowledgeable about transferability of courses.

Some of colleges where the focus groups were conducted have at least one staff member
dedicated to advising adult learners. Students described these individuals as key to
their success; not only because they were knowledgeable, but also because they offered
encouragement and support. One student reported, “[the staff member] helped me feel
comfortable and helped me feel proud of my decision to come back. ..she encouraged me
to take the step to continue my education.” These advisors help students aspire to further study.
Several students noted that because of their advisor’s encouragement, they are now planning
for their master’s degrees.

The Adult Learner Inventory outcomes show that, as a group, the colleges participating in
the pilot did not meet the expectations of students in the areas of advising and guidance.

These areas include knowledgeable advisors and developing an educational plan (the “Life
and Career Planning" Principle), understanding what is required to complete a program of
study, and guidance on transfer issues within the college and to four-year institutions
(the “Transitions" Principle).

Comments from students
reveal how the issues of
advising, acces sibility and
education impact students
daily lives. Well-informed
advisors are critical to
helping them negotiate their
educational experience and
stay on track.

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8

Helping Adult Learners Succeed

Accessibility

Since adult learners are often balancing work and family responsibilities with course work, it is
essential that course options and administrative services are accessible and convenient.

The adults participating in the focus groups reported that
a variety of claims on their time require them to have
multiple options for course delivery. A student with a child
with special needs finds that online courses allow her to
take classes, even though it is difficult for her to come to
campus. A working mother with three children cannot travel
the distance to the main campus, but a satellite campus
close to her home allows her to take classes. Accelerated
courses suit other students who would rather engage in a
compressed format to accommodate other responsibilities.

All of the colleges where focus groups were conducted
showed active employment of the “Technology” Principle
by allowing students to conduct virtually all of their
administrative tasks (enrollment, payment of bills,
purchasing books, etc.) via the Internet or by phone. This
assists busy students who do not have time to come to
campus. One student noted, “I do almost everything over
the Internet: pay tuition, buy books, etc. Being able to do
registration and other services online is great. You don’t
have to come to campus when you are busy." In fact, these
systems are so integrated into student experience that
students have come to expect it.

Problems with course scheduling can have a significant negative impact on adult learners
as indicated by the “Outreach” and “Life and Career Planning" Principles which point to
overcoming barriers of time, place and tradition and ensuring that the college has the capacity
to help students reach their goals. Students facing this challenge reported having to take
classes unrelated to their major in order to graduate because the more appropriate courses
were not offered at a time or within a format accessible to them. Some students reported that
this obstacle prevented them from graduating on time. Students also complained of the lack
of course options and offerings during the summer months. Said one student, “[this college]
needs to realize that we don’t take summers off. We are January to December students. We see
degrees as advancement in the workplace. We want twelve months of education when we can
get all the credits we can. We don’t want to be told we can only take three or six credits because
that is all that is offered."

Yet overall, colleges participating in the pilot succeeded in meeting the expectations of adult
learners in the area of accessibility. The ALI outcomes report, shows that most colleges
met student expectations in the “Outreach,” “Student Support Services," and “Technology"
Principles. These Principles are represented by such activities as convenient enrollment,
obtaining information, and course delivery options.

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Educational Experience

In the classroom itself, adult learners want an experience that helps them move efficiently and
effectively toward their goals. Adults bring a wealth of knowledge and life experience to their
formal education. As the Principle on “Assessing Learning Outcomes” states, it is important
for adult learners to build on this knowledge and not spend
time revisiting knowledge they have already mastered. Also,
adult learners must carve out time to study in the midst
of competing priorities so it is important that students
understand what is expected of them and that they receive
timely feedback from instructors.

Clear learning goals are an indicator of successful
implementation of the “Teaching-Learning" Principle and
students in the focus groups described good instructors
as those who are able to use it as a guide. One student
remarked, “They really spell out what you are expected to do
and learn. [And]. ..when you get to the end of the class, that is
what you will know."

Some of colleges where the focus groups were conducted
use online courseware that allows students to track their
progress in a class. Students were very enthusiastic about the
service’s capacity to provide them feedback and allow them
to check learning goals and course projects anytime and from
anywhere. One student described the benefits this way: “[it]
tells me exactly how I am doing. I don’t have to question how I
am doing. I am at work and I want to check on an assignment
I can do it. You can look at old tests and find out where you made a mistake and what you need
to study for.” Students’ main disappointments with the courseware were that many instructors
did not use it and were not required to do so.

As a further indicator of the “Teaching-Learning" Principle in action, students also discussed the
value of coursework that relates to “real world" issues and challenges them to reach beyond
their current skills and knowledge. At one college a student recounted an experience with her
course in creative problem solving:

“In the class we had to come up with a problem and go through steps to solve it. I actually solved
a problem that l didn't think l could solve with my eleven-year-old. I couldn’t believe it. I used the
skills I learned in the class. I sat with my child's teachers and l did my research and l knew what I
was doing and it felt really good.”

The issues facing the pilot colleges as observed through the focus groups echo findings in other
reports on adult learners. For example, a recent report issued by the Employment and Training
Administration notes the need for flexible schedules, including night and weekend classes;
accelerated programs; and on-line programs. The report also advocates adult-focused academic
and personal supports, and flags the pervasive problem of credit transfer between two- and four-
year institutions and between non-credit and credit programs . 7

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lO

Helping Adult Learners Succeed

Concluding Observations

The ALFI Assessment Toolkit for two-year colleges provides an avenue for a targeted
assessment of the adult learners’ experiences and a college’s response to the needs of this
important demographic.

The pilot project indicates that the data from the
Tools informed new initiatives and generated cross-
campus discussions about the adult learner. The
results are meaningful for tracking institutional progress
through accreditation reviews, strategic plans, and for
the creation of baseline data. Overall, the colleges
participating in the pilot found the ALFI Toolkit a
valuable contribution to their assessment plans and a
catalyst for change.

The pilot results also indicate how important
accessibility, transferability of credits, the educational
experience, and advising and guidance are to adult
learners, and echo current findings from research.

The experiences of the students in the focus groups
illuminate how these issues can have a real impact on
their success. These investigations support the ALFI
Assessment Toolkit’s capacity to identify critical issues
and provide key data about adult learner experiences.

Expanding lifelong learning opportunities is the driving
force behind CAEL’s mission. CAEL sees education as the key ingredient to a healthy society
where citizens are prepared for employment in our knowledge-based economy. One way to
bring about this vision is to help colleges help adult students. The ALFI Assessment Toolkit
serves as a comprehensive and practical set of assessments, which inform and guide colleges’
efforts to help adult learners move efficiently through their programs while fostering effective
plans for future education.

Daniel Flecker, “Occupational Employment Projections to 2014," Monthly Labor Review Online 128, no. 11 (2005),
http://stats.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/ll/art5full.pdf (accessed September 6, 2007).

2 National Center for Education Statistics, “Non-Traditional Graduates,” in Digest of Educational Statistics (Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2002).

3 Tim Silva, Margaret Calahan, and Natalie Lacireno-Paquet, “Adult Education Participation Decisions and Barriers,” in
Review of Conceptual Frameworks and Empirical Studies (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, 1998).

4 National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Educational Statistics (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Education, 2004).

5 National Center for Education Statistics, National Household Education Surveys Program of 2005. Adult Education
Participation in 2004-05 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2005).

6 CAEL and Noel-Levitz issued an Adult Learners Satisfaction-Priorities Report in 2006 as part of the pilot project
supported by Lumina Foundation for Education. This report focuses on the results from the Adult Learner Inventory.

A report issued in 2007 includes colleges that used the ALFI Assessment Tools before the development of the
Transitions scale and so does not uniformly address this facet of the assessment.

Employment and Training Administration, Occasional Paper 2007-03, “Adult Learners in Higher Education: Barriers to
Success and Strategies to Improve Results” (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor, March 2007).

The Tools informed new
initiatives and generated
cross-campus discussions
about the adult learner.

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Our Vision

Learning is central to the vitality of individuals,
organizations, communities and nations.

Our Mission

CAEL pioneers learning strategies for individual
and organizations.

We advance lifelong learning in partnership
with educational institutions, employers, labor
organizations, government and communities.

CAEL works to remove policy and organizationa
barriers to learning opportunities, identifies and
disseminates effective practices and delivers
value-added services.

55 East Monroe Street, Sutie 1930

Chicago, Illinois 60603

Phone: 312-499-2600 Fax: 312-499-2601